The invention relate to drive belts, e.g., used on vehicle engines used to drive, e.g., a fan for cooling the engine, water pump, fuel pump and the like, and more particularly it relates to emergency replacement belts to be mounted on the vehicle engine while in the field (at a road side) in the event of a fan belt breakage.
This invention is applicable to all manner of vehicles but the greatest need is considered to be that of long haul trucks. Trucks are expected to have a lifetime measured in hundreds of thousands of miles. A truck engine typically incorporates a drive belt of belts to drive critical components, e.g., a fan and/or a water pump, etc. In the event that the belt breaks, the truck quickly becomes un-drivable as the engine rapidly heats to a point of eminent destruction. The driver has no choice but to stop the truck and arrange for repairs of risk a major engine failure.
A truck loaded with needed products and delayed by something so simple as a broken fan belt can result in huge added costs. Carrying an extra fan belt or belts in the truck would appear to be an answer to this problem. However, the belts must be tight and they typically are mounted on sheave-type pulleys that require tightening after the belt is mounted on the pulleys. This is accomplished by the pulleys being adjustable. Thus, the pulleys have to be loosened, the belt mounted on the pulleys and then the pulleys have to be tightened. Tools and knowhow are required (in addition to having the correct fan belt size along) and the procedure is undesirably time consuming.
The present invention is directed to a temporary length adjustable fan belt that can be mounted to the pulleys without adjusting the pulleys, substantially without tools and in minutes of time. The belt has a male/female coupling at its respective ends and is not unlike any number of different types of clothing belts worn, e.g., by men to secure their trousers at the waist. One end is the female end (the buckle end) of the coupling that receives the male end (the tongue end). The tongue end is extended through the buckle and pulled taut (in a manner similar to how a waist belt is cinched up). A fastening mechanism having a mated part on each of the tongue and buckle is engaged at the taut condition and the belt is thereby secured onto the pulleys, and the truck (vehicle) can be driven for a period of time to accommodate a regular stop having repair facilities.
A preferred coupling is a one-way coupling where the tongue end will slide through the buckle end in the direction of tightening the belt but cannot be pulled backward to loosen the belt. The buckle contains flexible protrusions and the tongue is formed with ridges or notches that slide over the protrusions, the protrusions being angled toward the tongue end and flex out of the way as the tongue is pulled through the buckle. The protrusions engage the ridges and prevent a reverse pull of the tongue through the buckle end. Release of the protrusions to permit loosening requires a tool that can be fit between the protrusions and the tongue to hold the tongue away from the ridges.
The belt can be oversized in length so as to insure a fit around the pulleys for any size of broken belt and the excess simply cut off. Also, a plurality of shorter belts can be carried and two or more belts coupled together as needed to fit around the pulleys.
The invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description having reference to the accompanying drawings.